1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for mounting a storage device, an integral unit that includes the apparatus and integrates storage devices, and an electronic device that includes the integral unit.
2) Description of the Related Art
Most of the desktop personal computers (PC) include a plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs) as a storage device. Some other desktop PCs are configured in such a manner that an HDD can be installed in addition to the pre-installed HDDs. A typical desktop PC includes a case and a pair of guiding rails inside the case, and when installing an HDD, the HDD is slid along the guiding rails to a predetermined position.
For example, a vibration isolation structure for an electronic device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-314613. This vibration isolation structure is resistant to vibrations and allows easy assembly and disassembly of two HDDs. FIG. 29 is a front cross-section and FIG. 30 is a side cross-section of the vibration isolation structure disclosed in the above patent application.
As shown in FIG. 29, the vibration isolation structure includes a holder 240, a sub-holder 241, and a vibration attenuator 211. The holder 240 can be attached to or detached from a case (not shown) of the electronic device (not shown). The sub-holder 241 engages with the holder 240 through the vibration attenuator 211. The sub-holder 241 includes a pair of guiding rails 242, 243. Each guiding rail 242, 243 has two horizontally aligned rails. An HDD 210 is installed in a unit holder 244, and another HDD 210 is installed in a unit holder 245. The unit holders 244, 245 are slid along corresponding rails of the guiding rails 242, 243.
As shown in FIG. 30, each of the HDDs 210 includes a connector 246. The connector 246 of the HDD 210 installed in the unit holder 244 is electrically connected to a floating connector 247. The connector 246 of the HDD 210 installed in the unit holder 245 is electrically connected to a floating connector 248. The floating connectors 247, 248 are electrically connected to a board 249.
The floating connectors 247, 248 are mechanically floating and allow a displacement within a predetermined range. The board 249 is electrically connected to a main circuit 250 through a flexible cable 251.
Thus, the vibration isolation structure suppresses vibrations and allows easy assembly and disassembly of two HDDs. Moreover, the arrangement of the vibration attenuator 211 between the holder 240 and the sub-holder 241 enables to save space inside the case of the electronic device compared to when the vibration attenuator 211 is prepared for each of the HDDs 210.
However, the vibration isolation structure is quite bulky. Therefore, although it could be used in desktop PCs, it is not suitable for portable electronic devices such as laptop computers because of limited space.
Nowadays a technology called RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) is employed even in laptop computers. The RAID enables duplication of data by writing the data simultaneously to more than one HDD. In other words, even laptops are required to have more than one HDD.
Furthermore, the portable electronic devices are susceptible to an external magnetic field because their HDDs are arranged close to the cases. If the HDD is affected by the external magnetic field, the HDD is damaged and data stored in it is lost.